Distance Education Best Practices

New Faculty Orientation

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The Learning Process *taken from Walden Learning Model

Learners engage in critical activism (an integration of reflection and critique)

Learning is directly applicable to students’ work and personal lives Learning is contextual and focuses on interrelated concepts rather

than on isolated facts Learning is facilitated by faculty and staff Learning incorporates prior knowledge in the construction of new

knowledge Learning is active/experiential Learning is collaborative Learning calls on students to be self-directed Learning is developmental Learning facilitates constructive social activism/positive social change

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Best Practices Areas

Andragogy

Faculty Responsiveness

Evaluation and Assessment

Ethical Principles

Applied to courses, residency seminars and colloquia, KAMs, and thesis/dissertation

work

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Andragogy

Adult learning model developed by Knowles that guides instructional practice

An alternative to pedagogy, a term that refers to teacher-centered approaches for educating children

Assumptions of andragogy: 1. Adults are self-directed2. Adults bring a wealth of experience to the learning

process3. Adults come to the learning process ready to learn4. Adults are oriented toward immediate application of

learned knowledge5. Adults need to know the reason for learning something6. Adults are driven by intrinsic motivation to learn

(Knowles, as cited in Forrest III & Peterson, 2006, p. 116)

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Andragogy Best Practices

Organize a web course development team including a content expert, instructional designer, multimedia producer, systems analyst, and network programmer (Chou & Tsai, 2002)

Courses need to be student-centered, activity-based learning environments with problem-solving activities (Brown, 2001; Carr-Chellman & Duchastel, 2000; Chou, & Tsai, 2002; Knowlton, 2000; Pallof & Pratt, 2003)

Universal design principles need to be adapted (i.e., courses need to be accessible to students with different learning styles and learning abilities) (Pallof & Pratt, 2003; Dahl, 2005)

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Andragogy Best Practices

Faculty need to be able to give control of information and processes to the students; more of a mentor and manager role as opposed to one of information deliverer and expert (Palloff & Pratt, 2003; Robson, 2000; Shedletsky & Aitken, 2001)

Faculty need to create and sustain teaching presence based on 3 components: a) instructional design and organization, b) facilitating discourse, and c) direct instruction (Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2003)

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Andragogy Best Practices

Chickering and Gamson encourage the following conditions and behaviors for successful learning (Keeton, 2004; Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2003; Pallof & Pratt, 2003):

1. Frequent contact between students and faculty2. Reciprocity and cooperation among students3. Active learning techniques4. Prompt Feedback5. Time on task (clear articulation of due dates/time

frames for learning activities)6. Communication of high expectations7. Respect for diverse talent and ways of learning (Ko

& Rossen, 2001; Meyer, 2003)

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quality) Best Practices

Consideration of types of responses

(Blignaut & Trollop, p. 349, 2003)

1. Administrative (with no academic content)

2. Affective (with no academic content)

3. Other (with no academic content)

4. Corrective (with academic content)

5. Informative (with academic content)

6. Socratic (with academic content)

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quality) Best Practices

Administrative (with no academic content)

Postings that relate to general administrative topics, such as dates, profiles, formats, functionality of software and many other organizational aspects

Affective (with no academic content)

Postings that acknowledge learner participation and provide affective support

Other (with no academic content)

Postings that contain non-content related messages as well as the posting of discussion topics

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quality) Best Practices

Corrective (with academic content)Postings that correct the content of a learner’s postings

Informative (with academic content)Postings that comment on a learner’s postings from a content perspective and provide individual feedback

Socratic (with academic content)Postings that as reflective questions about the learner’s postings

Blignaut & Trollip, p. 349, 2003

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quality) Best Practices

Indicators of the Act of Facilitating Discourse

Identifying areas of agreement and disagreement

Seeking to reach consensus and understanding

Encouraging, acknowledging, and reinforcing student contributions

Setting the climate for learning

Drawing in participants and prompting discussion

Assessing the efficacy of the process

(Pelz, 2004; Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2003)

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quality) Best Practices

Indicators of the Act of Direct Instruction

Presenting content and questions

Focusing the discussion on specific issues

Summarizing discussion

Confirming Understanding

Diagnosing misperceptions

Injecting knowledge from diverse sources

Responding to technical concerns

(Pelz, 2004; Shea, Pickett, & Pelz, 2003)

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quality) Best Practices

Three Categories of Discussions (Pelz, 2004)1. Social Presence

a) affective- the expression of emotion, feelings, and moodb) interactive- evidence of reading, attending, understanding,

thinking about other’s responsesc) cohesive- responses that build and sustain a sense of

“belongingness,” group commitment, core common goals and objectives

2. Cognitive Presence- the extent to which meaning is constructed and confirmed through sustained discussion

3. Teaching Presence- two ways that faculty and students can add teaching presence:a) by facilitating the discussionb) by direct instruction

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quantity) Best Practices

Provide prompt and constructive feedback (Keeton, 2004)

One study revealed that faculty reported spending 18.25 (SD=12.70) hours a week on activities focused around teaching and managing their online class. Activities that were ranked highest were ones that focused on the process of learning rather than assessment of learning outcomes (Keeton, 2004).

Another study (Lazarus, 2003) showed that each online course required 3-7 hours per week with participation in and grading discussions taking the greatest amount of time. It was also reported that the instructor needed to be online and available to students daily.

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quantity) Best Practices

Indirectly related to faculty are the results of one study that showed a strong relationship between students’ perceptions of the quality and quantity of their interaction and their perceived performance in the course (Picciano, 2002); Points to the need for faculty to facilitate student participation and to serve as role models by being active participants in the course.

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Faculty Responsiveness (Quantity) Best Practices

Establish a Pattern of Frequent Response

(Ko & Rossen, 2001)

During first few weeks, greet all students individually in the classroom as they arrive and engage as many as possible in discussion

Establish a pattern of short but frequent activity (3- 5 short periods of logging on each week rather than 1 or 2 short sessions at the end of the week)

Post various types of responses (Blignaut & Trollip, 2003)

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Evaluation and Assessment Best Practices

Use of grading rubrics (numerical grading guidelines) recommended (Bauer, 2002; Pallof & Pratt, 2003)

Use of web-based assessments (including tests and assignments) (Chou & Tsai, 2002)

Learning goals, instructional strategies, and assessment methods should be congruent (Chyung & Stepich, 2003)

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Evaluation and Assessment Best Practices

Five Types of Evaluation Methodologies (Oliver, 2000)

Formative-provides information that allows revisions and improvements

Summative-global process (e.g., assessment of a project against learning outcomes)

Illuminative-seeks to discover the factors that are important to the participants with educational context as a focus

Integrative-incorporates multiple methods, including within-group experimental studies of performance, surveys, and interviews

Evaluation for quality assurance-involves identifying and documenting examples of good practice as well as areas that could be improved; focuses on critical reflection

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Evaluation and Assessment Best Practices

Proactive Evaluation is “a framework that identifies critical online learning factors and influences that will better inform the planning, design, and development of learning resources . . . where all planning activities are assessed against the evaluation criteria that would typically be applied during formative assessment [and] evaluation checks are performed proactively to enhance online learning.” (Sims, Dobbs, & Hand, p. 135, 2002)

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Ethical Principles

Nine Ethical Principles in University Teaching *Developed by the Society for Teaching and Learning and Higher Education

Content competence Andragogical competence Dealing with sensitive topics Student development Dual relationships with students (keeping relationships focused on academics) Confidentiality Respect for colleagues Valid assessment of students Respect for institution